Oax-i-fornia is the product of eight years of creative collaboration between artisans from Oaxaca, Mexico, and design students from California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Created by designer Raul Cabra, the project started as an academic program but has evolved to produce distinctive new contemporary objects that artisans can take to market. The deep exchange of skills that takes place between the design students and artisans is evident in the work, which is grounded in craft from the region but is taken in surprising, non-traditional design directions.

The students and teachers live together in Hacienda de Guadalupe. The Hacienda itself was a project in reviving the rich history of Oaxaca by restoring a dilapidated structure into an oasis where students live and work for a semester.